Daniel chapter 4. Daniel chapter
4. Now we live in a world of uncertainty.
Things seem to change day by day. We hear of a threat, something
happening. We hear of something else happening.
We hear of some guy rattling his saber with different things. Throws people into alarm. People
get worried and concerned. Today we're going to look at, even when all those things are
going on, absolute sovereignty. Absolute sovereignty. Now the word absolute in English
is defined as this. Total. Total sovereignty. And today we'll look at our God,
and this is not the God that's being proclaimed out in goat
pens out in the world, because they proclaim a God who wants
to do something but can't, who's absolutely powerless. But God's
preachers, we get up and we proclaim to God's people, and you love
to hear it, and I love to hear it too, A God who is absolutely
sovereign. Who is in full control. No matter
what we see. No matter what comes our way.
Our God is absolutely sovereign. Absolutely. Daniel chapter 4
verses 34 to 37 now. Nebuchadnezzar has been eating
grass for a little while. The Lord is Bottom law. Now remember this too, who Nebuchadnezzar
is. Nebuchadnezzar is a king over
a vast kingdom. He knows what it means to rule. He knows what it means that what
he says happens. Alright? Because he's a king
of a vast domain. And he can say they live or he
can say They die. Well, he got a little too proud,
like we all do. And the Lord brought him down,
brought him low. Look at Daniel, chapter 4, verses
34 to 37. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion. Now remember, this is a king
speaking. Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His
kingdom is from generation to generation. He's been taught
something. He's been taught something, beloved.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And He doeth according to His
will. There's the one will that rules everything. Right there. God's will. There's only really
one free will in the whole universe. And it's God's. It's God's. He doeth according to His will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou?
At the same time My reason returned unto Me, and for the glory of
my kingdom, my honor and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors
and my Lord sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom,
and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
now remember he's a king, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and
exalt and honor the King of heaven. The King of heaven. All whose
works are truth, in his ways judgment, and those that walk
in pride, he's what? He's able to abase. He's able to abase the proud,
isn't he? And every one of God's people say, yep, he did that to me. He abases
proud sinners, doesn't he? Now, he shows mercy to his people.
But there's one day when proud sinners who he's passed by, boy, oh, boy, on that great day of
judgment, they'll be crying for the mountains to fall upon them.
when they stand in His presence. Turn over, if you would, to 2
Timothy 4, verse 5. Paul wrote to Timothy over in
2 Timothy 4, verse 5, this. But watch thou, 2 Timothy 4,
5, I'm sorry, 2 Timothy 4, 5. But watch thou in all things,
Watch thou. Be aware. Watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work
of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry.
Timothy is to be alert. He's to be alert. He's to be
watchful. He's to be steady in all things. And he's encouraged by the apostle
Paul to endure all hardness. To endure all afflictions. and
to endure all trouble which comes up. He's encouraged to keep his
eyes upon Christ. And it's the same for us, beloved.
No matter what goes on in this world, we're to keep our eyes
fixed on the one who's upon the throne, on the one who's ruling
and reigning. But Timothy is to make full proof
of his ministry or perform all the duties of his ministry. Now,
the duties of the ministry are not what men think. They are,
and yet the duties of the ministry are vast and not one of us is
sufficient for them. Our sufficiency is in Christ. God teaches that to the preacher
and God teaches that to all his saints. We are not sufficient
for these things. But our sufficiency is in Christ
in him alone. and two things weigh heavy upon
every gospel preacher. We want to preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not want to preach ourselves
or another gospel. We want to preach the free grace
of God in Christ, and we want to preach Christ and Him crucified,
just like Paul did. We want to preach the gospel
of God's free grace in Christ Jesus our Lord, in which Paul
is called He's called the gospel of His glory. And that's what
preachers want. We want to preach the gospel
of His glory. See, man likes the glory in themselves.
No, we want God to get all the glory. We want Him to be glorified
and magnified. And I desire to preach the gospel
of God's free grace in such a way that men and women who are sinners
are encouraged. to trust and rest in our Savior. And we know, and I know by preaching,
that it's only Christ who can draw a lost sinner. But every
gospel preacher desires that God's people would be built up
in Christ. Oh, that she'd just enter into
the rest of Christ and trust Him more and more. That's our
hope. Because as we study, we're encouraged
to rest and to trust in Christ. I need to be encouraged that
the Lord is in absolute control. Just like everyone else. And
that's what happens when we study. And this is what we want to proclaim.
We want to proclaim that Jesus Christ, our Lord, came to save
sinners. He came to redeem lost sinners. He came to save His people from
their sins. And He did that. In Isaiah, Our
great God and King says this, come now and let us reason together. Sayeth the Lord, though your
sins be as scarlet, double-dye red, horrendous, they shall be white as snow. White as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. So God's preachers, we desire
to preach and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
second thing that weighs heavy upon us is the low opinion that
people have of God. The absolute low opinion that
people have of God. And I know we've all found this
when we talk to people. They have a very low opinion
of God. And I know I did before the Lord
saved me. They have no regard. Some folks
have no regard for our great God and King. But we who proclaim
the gospel of God's free grace in Christ Jesus our Lord, we
proclaim the greatness and the majesty and the power of our
great God and King. Brother John, that's why I had
you read that Psalm. It just magnifies the sovereignty and
the power that our God has. And that's the God of the Bible. Not what folks are saying. That's
what the Scripture says. And God's people, and God's preachers,
we mourn when people have such a low opinion of God. Some of the things that go on
in this religious world out there, they profess to know God. Some
of it's just appalling. It's absolutely appalling. And
it's appalling to we who know Christ. It's offensive what they say
about our God. My God wants to, but can't. Unless you let him. What? That's
not the God of the Bible. I love, I absolutely love what
Brother John read there. And I just, just came right out
verse 9. For he spake and it was done.
Does that sound like a God who wants to but can't do anything?
He spake and it was done. Oh my. He commanded and it stood
fast. Now think of that in our salvation.
He said, you're mine. Oh my. What mercy. What mercy he shows his people. The religious hucksters of this
world are making merchandise of man's souls. All they care
about is what they can gain. They say send your money and
it'll grow. They're just hucksters. There
are just a bunch of crooks. They all live in mansions, stealing
people's money. And here's the apostle Paul,
who preached and he's a tent maker by day. He's not after anyone's money.
He just wants to preach and proclaim Christ and Him crucified. And
every gospel preacher will tell you, we're not in it for the
money. We care about people's souls. We care about people's
souls. We want to see the Lord move
and draw and save His people from their sins. And He does
it. He does it. And it's absolutely incredible.
So Paul, he was a churchman. He didn't want to be a burden.
Turn, if you would, to Acts 18. Paul didn't want to be a burden.
He didn't want to be a burden to the Lord's church. His concern
was preaching Christ. That was the absolute most important
thing to Paul, was to preach Christ and Him crucified. And that's the most important
thing to any grace preacher. To preach and proclaim Christ.
That God would take the words of this feeble mouth and use
them for His glory. Use them for His glory. Reveal
Christ to you. Build you up as a saint of God.
My, look at Acts 18 verses 1 to 4. After these things, Paul departed
from Athens and came to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named
Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, and his wife
Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart
from Rome, and came unto them. And because he was of the same
craft, he abode with them, and wrought, for by their occupation
they were tent makers. and he reasoned in the synagogue
every Saturday. So every Saturday he went to
the synagogue and reasoned and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
But look, his occupation, they were tent makers. So Paul would
spend the week making tents. He didn't want to be a burden
on the church. And then every Sabbath day, he'd
go and preach and proclaim Christ in the synagogues. Now I imagine
he talked about Christ through the week too while he was working,
probably with his brother and sister here. They probably had
some wonderful talks. But you see, his desire was to
preach the gospel. They labored, and then he preached
the gospel to those who are at Thessalonica. Turn if you will
to 1 Thessalonians 2, 9. 1 Thessalonians 2, 9. We saw last week, we saw when
Paul went to Thessalonica. But look what he says here in
1 Thessalonians. Thessalonians 2.9. And then put your finger
in Psalm 50. We'll go over there after that. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2.9.
For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring
night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of
you. We preached unto you the gospel of God. So he labored during the day
and he taught at night. His desire was to preach the
gospel. And then turn to Psalm 50. Now,
as I said, one of the burdens that grace preachers have is
the low opinion people have of God. The low opinion that people
have of God. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. No seriousness when it comes
to God. And they talk with such familiarity,
right? Oh, He's my buddy. What? He's
my Lord. He's my Savior. He's my King. My buddy is folks that I talk
to on this earth, fellow humans and people I get to know. But
God is my King. See the low esteem that people
have? Now, He's our friend, isn't He? Scripture says that. He is
our friend. But when people say, oh, he's
my buddy, that's just such a low opinion. Somebody said that this
week, and it just riled me up. Such a low opinion of who God
is. And you remember, you used to see them stickers, God is
my co-pilot. What? Come on. It's just a low esteem
of who God is. No fear of God. And you see them
stickers, no fear. Well, you're going to fear one
day. I pray God, I have mercy on you before that day. My goodness,
my goodness. Look at Psalm 50. Do you know
that as we sit here right now? That our God. Is giving us the
breath, breathe right now while we see every breath you take. Is from him. That's how in control
he is right now and every breath we take until our dying day comes
from him. That's how absolutely in control
our God is. He's an absolute sovereign beloved.
My goodness. My goodness. People flippantly
use his name. And then they do this too. They
talk of God and the devil like they're competitors. Satan is a created being. He's
God's devil. Remember that. And you hear people
start to vault Satan up higher than God. No, no, no, no. Our God is absolutely sovereign
and everything is under his feet. Everything. My, and he is a sovereign
king, beloved. Look at Psalm 50 verses 21 to
23. These things hast thou done,
and I kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such, and one is thyself. So many people think that God
is just like us. He is not like us at all. He
is not like us. But Scripture says, thou thoughtest I was altogether
such, and one is thyself, but I will reprove thee. and set
them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver
you. Unless Christ delivers us from the wrath and justice of
God, we have no deliverance at all. My, my, Whoso offereth praise
glorifyeth me, and to him that ordereth his conversation the
right, will I show the salvation of God. God's people have been
shown the salvation of God. It's Christ. It's Christ. Rejoice, beloved, if he's revealed
himself to you. Rejoice, you've been shown the
salvation of God. My, turn if you would over to
over to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. My, there's such a familiarity,
such loose speech about God in the world, both in the religious
and the non-religious world. And some false preachers claim
that they talk to God. They claim that they talk to
God. Well, they claim they have a hotline almost. Remember the
bat phone? It almost sounds like that, don't
it? When you hear people talk about that. It's so ridiculous. God speaks to us through His
Word. And do you know that God... I remember I heard Henry this
week say this. He said that all that God has
to say to us, He says to us through Christ. Through Christ. And through His Word, right? So if you hear people say they
heard God or they talk to God, they're lying. They're liars.
They're liars. Anyone who knows God and has
had Christ revealed to them, know that when these folks say
that, that they're deceived, because look at Luke chapter
10, verses 21 to 22. Luke 10, 21 and 22. In that hour,
Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things
are delivered to me of my Father, and no man knoweth who the Son
is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son. and He
to whom the Son will reveal Him. Christ must be revealed to us. And these people by their flippant
speech and their low thoughts of God reveal to us by their
speech that they do not know Christ, that He has not been
revealed to them at all. We must declare every time someone
gets in this pulpit, we must declare the majesty of God, the
absolute majesty of God. And we who are believers, we
declare that to our generation. We declare to our generation
the majesty of God. We must proclaim his greatness
and our nothingness. We must proclaim His greatness
and our nothingness. Listen to how our God is proclaimed
and compare this text I'll give us, compare this text to the
God who's taught out in the religious world. And I know we've all talked
to religious people. Compare what you heard from people's
mouths about who they think God is compared to what Paul declares
in 1st Timothy 1.17, he says this, now unto the King eternal, now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honored in glory forever and
ever. Amen. That's the God of the Bible. That's our Savior. That's our
King, beloved. And the other gods that people
proclaim, little g, are gods which are produced from the idle
factories of people's hearts. Because our hearts and our natural
state is an idle factory. It just keeps pumping them out.
Who we think God is. But the scripture reveals who
He is. This is our final authority, isn't it? He tells us who He
is. He reveals to us. We saw that
in Luke. He reveals to us who He is. And He is a God who is
of absolute majesty, absolute power, a King upon the throne,
beloved. Now think of that. And He coming
down from glory to redeem us from our sins. That is condescension,
isn't it? My oh my beloved. So we declare
the majesty, the majesty of God to our generation. We don't talk
flippantly of our God. We exalt the greatness of our
God. Turn if you would to Ecclesiastics chapter 5. Ecclesiastics chapter
5. And then put your finger in Job
chapter 42. And then we'll go back to our
text in Daniel. Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verses 1 and 2 in Job
42. Let us consider these words in
these two portions of Scripture. Ecclesiastes 5, 1 and 2. Keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of God, and be more ready to hear. Be
more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they
consider not that they do evil. They don't think they're sinners. Be not rash with thy mouth, and
let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God.
For God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth. Where's our God
right now? He's in heaven. He sees everything. He knows everything. We're upon
the earth. Therefore let thy words be few. Oh Lord. And then turn over to
Job 42. Job 42. Job was a man who knew
God, knew who God was. The Lord revealed himself in
a mighty way through affliction. Look at Job 42. verses 1 to 6. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, I know that Thou canst do everything. Is there anything
our God can't do? He can do everything. And that no thought can be withholden
from Thee. My, who is He that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered That
I understand not. My goodness, I've spoken things
that I don't even understand. Oh, my. Things too wonderful
for me, which I knew not. Here I beseech thee, and I will
speak. I will demand of thee and declare
thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee. Oh, his eye of faith
is fixed upon his God. Wherefore, I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. That's what we do when God reveals
himself to us. Oh, my Lord, I'm such a sinner. And you're so holy. And you're
so full of majesty. With that in mind, let's go back
to our text in Daniel chapter 4 and consider some truths set
forth in our text. Again, let us consider that this
great king, Nebuchadnezzar, had been bought very low, very low. He'd been made to eat grass like
an ox. God had taught him some things,
just like he taught Jonah when he was in the belly of the whale.
Let us consider some of the things Nebuchadnezzar has been taught
from our text. Daniel 4, verses 34 to 37. We'll read it again. And at the
end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes into heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his stand or say unto him, what doest
thou? At the same time, my reason returned
unto me. And for the glory of my kingdom,
mine honor and brightness returned unto me. And my counselors and
my lords sought unto me. And I was established in my kingdom,
and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, all whose works
are truth. In His way is judgment, and those
that walk in pride He's able to abase. Let's look at some things He's
been taught, and some things that our generation needs to
learn. Some things that our generation needs to learn. He's been taught
about the majesty, the greatness, and the sovereignty of our Lord
God. Now we know that out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh, right? That's what scripture
declares. And a man's idea of God is usually
what comes out of his mouth. That's why I meant you can tell
what a person thinks of God by what they speak. You can tell
if they have a low opinion of God. Just listen to what they
say. You probably won't be able to listen long, but you know
quickly what they believe. Look at Daniel 4.34. Nebuchadnezzar is saying this.
At the end of days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes into heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation
to generation. Now, religion has a God who's
limited. Religion has a God who's limited
in what He can do. But our God, beloved, Our God
is a God who rules and reigns. And this scripture proclaims
this. He rules and reigns in absolute sovereignty. Now what
peace that gives to God's beloved saints, right? Because not only
do we know that Christ came down according to the decree and that
God ordered it, but we know that all those He redeemed, He keeps,
no matter what we go through. And that He is able to keep us.
We can't keep ourselves. He's able to. And the one who
keeps us is the one spoken of in this text. And that marvelous. My. We have a God whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion in this kingdom is from generation
to generation. Think of that. Our generation
will die. And if the Lord carries the next
generation will be raised up. And some will be drawn out of
them. that generation, some will be saved. God's got his last
sheep all through time. But like what Brother Jim was
saying, when that last sheep is saved, it's all over. It's
all finished. But it says here his his dominion
is an everlasting dominion, that means no one can no one can take
over his throne, no one can usurp him. He's been taught, Nebuchadnezzar
has been taught about God's absolute sovereign rule. Look at verse
35, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his
hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Great God, how infinite
art thou, what worthless worms are we? Let the whole race of
creatures bow and pay their praise to thee. Thy throne eternal ages
stood ere seas or stars were made. Thou art the ever-living
God where all the nations dead. Nature and time quite naked lie
to thy immense survey from the formation of the sky to the great
burning day. Eternity with all its years stands
present in thy view. To thee, there is nothing old
appear, great God. There is nothing new. That's our God. That's our Savior. He is an absolute sovereign.
Turn, if you would, to Job chapter 38. He's an absolute sovereign. Job chapter 38, verses 8 to 11. He's an absolute sovereign. Everything is under him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, beloved. Job chapter 38, verses 8 to 11. Or who shut up the sea with doors
when it break forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? Do
you know that the sea The sea can go no further than
God commands. My. When I made the cloud the
garment thereof, in thick darkness a swallowing band for it, and
break up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said
hither thou shalt come, but no further. And here shall thy proud waves
be stayed. He's in control of all the oceans
and all the waters, stars, everything is at his command. Our God is in the heavens. Someone
asks, where's your God? Our God's in the heavens. And
he does whatsoever he pleases, whatever he pleases. My. Nebuchadnezzar, another thing
that Nebuchadnezzar has been taught is his nothingness. And
remember, he's a king. He's a wealthy king. He's been
taught his nothingness. Look at verse 35. Now this just
hammers the pride of man. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. What? I'm something though. Right? That's what people in
the world say, right? That's what we used to say, wasn't
it? Look out for number one. I remember saying that all the
time before the Lord saved me. And then God taught me my nothingness. Has he taught you that? Why? We rejoice when he teaches us
our nothingness. It's a strange thing. Because
we were so proud before. Now he teaches his people our
nothingness. But yet he has mercy on we who
are nothing. Isn't that wonderful? He's been
taught his nothingness. Some churches have become nothing
but self-esteem workshops. Self-esteem workshops. They really
are. How to fix your marriage. How
to fix this? How to fix that? They don't know
Christ, so they can't preach Him. But they're always telling
you something you gotta do. Well, gospel preachers, we proclaim
our nothingness in His greatness, His majesty, His glory. But people, people love having
their ears tickled. Every time they meet, And the scriptures here proclaim,
and they hate scriptures like this. They hate scriptures like
this, which proclaim this. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. Again, God put Nebuchadnezzar
out eating grass like an ox. And he found out that he was
nothing. And he found out that God is something. That God is
everything. He was taught that. He was taught
that God is absolutely supreme, beloved. That He is all-powerful. That He is a majestic King. He
found out that our great God rules and reigns. Look, and all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. Turn,
if you would, to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. Look at these statements of of
who our God is, and how we are nothing. Isaiah chapter 40. Now
this is the God of the Bible, and people don't want to hear
this, but this is what Scripture declares, isn't it? I'm not giving
you my opinion. We're reading what the Word of
God says. We're reading what the Word of God says. Isaiah
40. Who had directed the Spirit of
the Lord, verse 13, or being his counselor hath taught him?
Has anyone taught God anything? Absolutely not. You don't have
no counselors. Leaders in our world, they have
counselors and people to help them, and God don't need no one. He doesn't need us. But yet He's
had mercy on His people in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a great
God. Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord, or being His counselor, hath taught Him? With whom took
He counsel? And who instructed Him, and taught
Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and
showed to Him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket. Again, I heard Brother Henry
saying, Brother Neil, you know what this is. Brother Henry was
talking about the drop of a bucket is after you've drained a bucket
and there's just a little drop left in the bucket. Little insignificant
drop. And then it says the dust of
the balances. That's just that, the dust that sits on the balances
when they used to weigh things. Just the dust, that's insignificant. Insignificant. Drop of a bucket.
Behold, the nations are as the nations. That means all these
things. The Roman Empire. Britannica. She ruled the waves. Even our great nations. as a drop in the bucket, as the
dust of the balances in the eyes of the Lord. That's our God. That's our God. And are counted
as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he take it up the aisles
as a very little thing. There are nothing. Oh, this abases human pride and
exalts the sovereignty of God. One preacher said this, let us
measure ourselves by our master, then pride will be impossible.
Let us measure ourselves by our master and pride will be impossible. We won't be proud. Oh my. My, and look at verse 16 and
18 in Isaiah 40. And Lebanon is not sufficient
to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
All the nations before him are as what? Nothing. Same thing
he said about the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing before
him. And they are counted to him less
than nothing and vanity. To whom will ye liken God? We go to these places, right?
Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls. We go, oh, look at that. And
it magnifies our Lord's glory, doesn't it? It does. And they're
so huge, and we're just little things. Is anyone compared to our God? Anything? The heavens can't contain
Him, beloved. My! My! To whom will you liken God? We
can't. We can't liken Him to anyone. Or what likewise will
you compare unto Him? Nothing to compare to Him. Nothing. And this is our Savior. This
is our Redeemer. This speaks of our great God.
The Lord Jesus Christ. My! All the nations of the earth
are before Him as nothing, and are counted as less than nothing
in vanity. And this is what Scripture declares.
Where is Alexander? Where is the great Caesars? Where are the great Roman legions
that conquered, conquered vast parts of Europe? Where are they? That conquered all the way to
some parts of the Middle East, where are they? Where are the mighty armies of
the Medes and the Persians? They're all dust now, beloved. They're all dust. They're nothing. But our great God and King is
still upon the throne. And He still rules. And He still
reigns today, just as He did at the time Nebuchadnezzar said
this. And just as He ruled and reigned
in eternity, He still reigns now and He will reign all the
way into eternity. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. And His kingdom is from generation
to generation. This is biblical preaching. This
is biblical preaching. We saw Daniel proclaim that.
We've seen Isaiah proclaim this. The greatness and absolute sovereignty
of our God. And the world hates this, and
religious folks hate this, but God's saints, God's people, we
rejoice in this truth. We rejoice in this truth. We
rejoice in this truth that without Christ, we can do nothing. Don't
you rejoice in that? You who believe. Without Christ,
we can do nothing. Galatians says this, in Galatians
6.3 says this, the scriptures proclaim, For if a man think
himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. For if a man think himself to
be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. This generation
does not want to hear these precious truths, but God's preachers,
we preach and proclaim these marvelous truths. Preach the
word, be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering. Who do we preach? The Lord Jesus
Christ. We preach Christ as our Lord.
We preach Christ as our Redeemer. We preach Christ as our Savior.
We preach Christ as our Redemption. We preach Christ as our Righteousness.
We preach Christ as our Sanctification. We preach Christ as our All in
All. He's everything. He's everything. For the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves. Teachers have
an itch in ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the
truth, and they shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in
all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist,
make full proof of the ministry. 2 Timothy 4, verses 2 to 5. Look again at Daniel 4.35 and
we'll see another precious truth here. And all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven. And among the inhabitants of
the earth, if none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? Notice his will. And He doeth according to His
will. His will. His will will be accomplished
and none can stay His hand. None can ever say, what are you
doing? Because He is God Almighty seated
upon the throne of glory. And He rules in absolute majesty. And He rules in absolute power. No wonder the scripture says,
now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling. Because He's ruling and reigning
in absolute majesty. You can't question what He does.
We may question what each other does. But we can't question what
God does. I may be working on my garden
with the flowers and you can say, Wayne, don't do it that
way. Do it this way, right? You might be able to say that
to me. We can't do that with God. We
can't do that with God because God does it his way and none
can stay his hand. That's the God of the Bible.
You see, you see, like the old preachers used to say, cry out
to God. We're in His hands. He'll do
it to us whatever He pleases. Oh, plead for mercy. Oh, my. My. And that's what God's people
do, eh? God, be merciful to me of the sin. Be merciful to me
of the sin. Now, think of this. If you could
tell God what to do, Or if you could stay his hand, he wouldn't
be gone. A God who who we humans can control
little G is not God. But our God, beloved. The God
of Daniel and the God of Isaiah. He does whatever he pleases.
Whatever he pleases. He's God Almighty, the nations
are like a drop in a bucket to Him. He does in the army of heaven
and with the inhabitants of the earth whatever He pleases. And no man can stay His hand.
And if a man thinks he can stay His hand, what other foolishness? He does not know God. He does not know God. Again,
folks pop off about free will or their will, but beloved, our
text makes it clear that in this universe, there is one overriding
will. One overriding will, which every
other will is subject to. Because he do it according to
his will, the scripture proclaims. His will. This is speaking of
God Almighty and we're in subjection to him. Now, God is not the author
of sin, right? We know that. What does God have
to do for a man to to die in their sins? Just leave him alone. What does God have to do for
you and I to go to heaven? Everything. That's right. God's people say,
amen. Praise his mighty name. My. He even teaches us to pray thy will be done. Let us consider the last two
verses in our text. At the same time my reason returned
unto me for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned
unto me, and my counselors and my Lord sat unto me, and I was
established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto
me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King
of heaven, all whose works are truth and his ways judgment,
and those that walk in pride he's able to abase. Here's the
last thing Nebuchadnezzar has been taught. That all the works
of our great God are truth and his ways judgment. He is able
to abase those who walk in pride. And he has for every single one
of his sheep. We were proud, weren't we? We
still struggle with pride, don't we? Let's be honest. We all do. We all do. We're sinners. But he's able to abase the proud,
isn't he? And that's what he's done to us. He showed us our
nothingness, just like he did to Nebuchadnezzar. And he showed
us his greatness. And he's revealed Christ to us.
And now we rejoice in our mighty Savior. We rejoice, and He'll
get every single one of His sheep. There won't be one lost. We know
the gospel goes out in power. His word will not return unto
Him void. It will accomplish what it will. It either saves
or hardens. And let us think this. Let us
think on this. It was according to His will,
and we saw in our text, His will, right? It was according to His
will and purpose that Jesus Christ, our Lord, came to die as our
substitute before His holy law and before His holy justice for
our sins. It was according to the will
of God. And it was according to His will
that the Holy Spirit regenerated every one of us who believe.
It was according to His will. His will. It was according to
his will that we've all been granted. We who believe faith
and repentance according to his will. In his time. In his time. And it is according
to his will that all his lost sheep who remain will be saved
and they will be. They will be drawn to Christ
and they'll be showing their need. And it's according to his
will and purpose that we that were based. We who walk in pride,
we walked in pride. He based us. It's according to
His will, again, that Christ died and paid the ransom for
our eternal souls. And it is according to His eternal
will that we will be in glory forever with Him. One day, soon,
soon. Heavenly Father, we come before
Your throne. Oh, You are an absolute sovereign,
a God in full control, the one true God. All other gods are
figments of man's imagination. But you are the one true God
and your ways are truth. Your ways are truth. And you
yourself, Lord Jesus, are the way, the truth, and the life.
We who have had you revealed to us, we marvel in your grace
and mercy which you bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And our prayer, oh Lord, is that the message would go forth and
that you would draw your lost sheep and build up your people
in Christ. draw your lost sheep to thee,
we pray in Jesus' precious name. Amen.